NASCAR announced Tuesday major changes to its Cup Series schedule for the 2020 season, seeing a shakeup in which tracks are in the playoffs and in what order.
While there were plenty of shifts in the schedule, the 11-race stretch from the regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway to the new Championship race location at ISM Raceway at Phoenix may be the most impactful for winning a championship.
Which dynamic will have the greatest influence on shaping the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs: the four cutoff races (Daytona, Bristol, Charlotte’s road course, Martinsville) or the new championship battle in the desert?
MORE: NASCAR reveals 2020 schedule | Photos: Major changes
NASCAR.com’s Pat DeCola and Jonathan Merryman debate.
Pat DeCola: First thing’s first: Homestead-Miami Speedway has put on some incredible championship races. ISM Raceway will have to raise its bar to a whole new level, and I think it will. Let’s recap just a few wild things that have happened out west in this decade alone.
Fall 2012: After an on-track dispute, Clint Bowyer sprints through the garage area to confront Jeff Gordon — sparking one of the biggest fracases the sport has seen in some time. The incident likely took Bowyer’s shot at the title away. He finished second to Brad Keselowski that year, 39 points down.
Fall 2014: Kevin Harvick walks off with a victory in a must-win situation, launching him to the Championship 4 where he won his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series title. Ryan Newman punts Kyle Larson out of the way in a last-ditch effort to make the Championship 4.
RELATED: Memorable moments at ISM Raceway
Fall 2015: Dale Earnhardt Jr. inherits the lead late as a caution falls one lap after he pits … and then the skies opened up — again, in the desert! — to end the race and give Junior one final win in what wound up being his last trip to Victory Lane.
Spring 2016: In what was a preview to come in a battle of two of the season’s best contenders, Kevin Harvick held off Carl Edwards at the start/finish line for a 0.010 margin of victory. It was the seventh-closest finish in NASCAR history.
Spring 2019: Following a disagreement on the track during Busch Pole Award qualifying, a heated Daniel Suarez approached Michael McDowell and the two wound up coming to blows.
Now, I’m not saying I want to see the title decided by fisticuffs, but Phoenix has offered plenty of sparks in recent years; maybe more so than any other track. I only expect that intensity to heighten and the penchant for the memorable moments that happen when the pressure is dialed up to 11 to increase at ISM.
Jonathan Merryman: Au contraire — there has been no race track with more dramatic moments and more story lines over the past few years than Martinsville Speedway.
In 2015, Jeff Gordon got his 93rd and final win, screaming the instant Victory Lane catchphrase, “We’re going to Homestead!”
The following year, Jimmie Johnson won and locked himself into the Championship 4 on his way to a historic, record-tying seventh NASCAR Cup Series title.
And how can we forget about 2017? Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott may want you to, but in reality, we will never forget what was on the line and just how much it hurt Elliott to get dumped from the lead and miss out on racing for his first Cup Series title.
It doesn’t end there, either. Last year, coming to the start/finish line we had no idea who would win that race between Joey Logano and Martin Truex Jr., and that is why I think moving this race to the cutoff for the Round of 8 is genius.
Now, instead of kicking off the Round of 8, it will be the final race. That means you know if you have to win … and you know if you have to move someone. You know exactly what you have to do to get out of Martinsville with an opportunity to go to ISM Raceway and race for a championship.
Add in the fact that we’ll likely see dramatic finishes at all three of the previous cutoff races, too, and you’d better buckle up.
The dramatic, winding path that runs through Martinsville is going to be hotly contested and fun as hell to witness.